Chan is a very talented skater, woth great skills. But i count him out of revolutionising FS. He had just used very clever the point system. The same goes at the moment for Hanyu, but he seems to have great abilities to go further in the technical part. So now is too earyl to put him on that list, but in 4 years he might earn that place.

Personally from the modern era i would put Plushenko and Kwan, as those two who transcendent the FS little world and became the image of FS for many poeple outthere.

As legendary as he is , i woudn't count Yagudin, he was not so influencial for the generations to come and while he won the most times over Plushenko, he actually went with the trend made by Plushenko. I give more Stojko the edge, he brought the sport further, he pushed like Plushenko the borders.

How about Scott? Not only for his amateur competition, but more for his involvement in FS after going pro?

^Also, pretty much agree with the above poster. Kinda what I was trying to say with my other post. Plushenko was pushing the technical stuff and Yagudin followed suit so he wouldn't fall behind. I give Yagudin a nod because while he didn't do the innovating himself, his presence probably pushed Plushenko to innovate.

Peggy Fleming was definitely the prototype for the All-American ice princess. I don't think Dorothy Hamill's astronomical post-Olympics fame would have been possible without Peggy opening that door in 1968. It's easy to see the impact Peggy had on how top American ladies' skaters were packaged through the years: look no further than Dorothy, Linda Fratianne, Roz Sumners, Nancy Kerrigan....

I would also add Bestemianova/Bukin for ice dance. I think the sport's reputation as theatrical and over-the-top has a lot to do with their dominance in the mid-late '80s.

Hamilton could be mentioned for bringing more advanced footwork and making non jump elements like spins and footwork important to mens skating and results for the first time, and for creating Stars on Ice and much of the pro circuit as we came to know it.

Yu Na Kim's biggest legacy will be adding a new Asian power country to the sport (especialy if any future Koreans win medals or Korea atleast becames more a fixture in the sport), and most of all for making the difficult 3-3s being included consistently in both programs paramount for the first time. Everyone now is trying triple lutz-triple toe or triple lutz-triple loop or triple flip-triple toe type combinations in both programs and that is mostly due to Yu Na.

Mao for pushing the triple axels which had become an extinct jump for many years post Ito, and still managing to deliver a beautiful overall package of skating even while trying the technically hardest programs by a women ever to do.

Ito for being many years ahead of her time in athleticsm and jumping, but she was already mentioned. Plus for being the start of the rise of Japanse skating.

Fleming was the first to really bring femininity and delicate artistry to modern day ladies skating, while Lynn was the first to really skate with her heart and soul and for it be very organic in nature.

I am not sure if Hamill revolutioned the sport per say, even though she became a huge star an iconic figure. Maybe she could be credited for making spins, and complete technical skating, not just the jumps very important. What set her apart more than her artistry amongst her competitors, was that she had outstanding spins, spirals, footwork, and stroking, which set her far above her competitors even though a few of them could do triple jumps and she wasnt doing them. Plus her huge double axels.

I agree that neither Hanyu or Chan, while excellent, would go down as revolutioning the sport in anyway. Maybe Chan could be credited for making skating skills and complex programs a more prominent focal point. I think that impact would have been felt if he had been more consistent, but unfortunately it just gives the impression this is too much to reach for and doesnt really push future skaters to want to follow that.

Browning revolutioned the sport in the sense of making programs more diverse and showing you could display a whole range of styles and skating themes, both as an amateur and a pro. You didnt have to be pigoneholed into just one style of skating if you didnt want to be (although that was fine as well if it suited you best).

I don't want to get into an argument over specific choices, but this thread is a great way to think of skaters, and I like that you go back practically to the start of competitive skating rather than concentrating just on the recent past. Definitely Toller Cranston and Janet Lynn need to be on this list, because though they never won an international gold medal, they helped to usher in the era of more expressive skating. Cranston shares that distinction with his almost exact contemporary, John Curry, and Lynn probably can be thought of in conjunction with Peggy Fleming.

For the ice dancers, I'll leave it to better informed people (or just more emphatic people!) to argue, except to say that Torvill and Dean most assuredly do belong on this list.

Some people are bending over backwards to come up with an excuse to include their favourites. Like Chan being "one of the first to do the half loop 3S sequence". Midori Ito did it in the 80s. She also did 7 triple LPs a decade earlier than Kwan. (I have nothing against Chan or Kwan.)

I didn't say Kwan was the first to do seven triples... right? I apologize if I did; I'm hardly the go-to person for figure skating history. I think Kwan is important because she made the seven-triple performance a mainstay, at least to some degree. And that's not even getting to the artistic side. Just like how Yagudin and Plushenko weren't the first ones to do quads (lol), but they both pushed quads to become more common and essential.

Speaking of rivalries and innovation, anyone have an opinion on the Brian's (Boitano and Orser)? Or Katarina Witt for that matter? I don't think any of them did any major technical innovations (that I recall), but maybe they should be considered if we look at performance as a whole. Of course, again, I'm not well-versed in the era.